


Back to Back

by WiccanWinchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: A/B/O, Alpha Dean, Alpha Sam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, F/M, Fluff, Language, Nearly Feral Dean, Omega OFC, Rut, Scenting, Smut, heat - Freeform, lets be straight up, slowish burn, so much scenting, this is probably gonna get inappropriate eventually, unless i get impatient
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-19 18:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16540136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WiccanWinchester/pseuds/WiccanWinchester
Summary: Zenneth was raised a hunter. She knows and has experienced pretty much every horror that the world has to offer, and has been able to keep herself and her brothers safe from them. After a hunt gone wrong and a forced heat, Zenneth has no choice but to pack up her belongings and lay low in the Winchesters’ bunker. She’s always been on her own, so it should feel nice to have someone there to watch her back. So why does it make her so uneasy?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started this story like two weeks ago and was unsure about it, and then two seconds ago I watched 14x4 and they mentioned Fortnite and I was like “oh shit, this is a sign. Gotta post it.” 
> 
> I’ve never written ABO before but somehow this is. 
> 
> So here is chapter one of my aimless trash. I hope you’ll join me on this garbage journey that I am inexplicably excited about.

“This yours?” I asked, holding the blonde teen by the back of his T-shirt before shoving him towards the three men in front of me.

The one in the middle moved without hesitation, falling to his knees to where the teen— Jack, he had said his name was— now sat in the ground, head bent. The man’s tan trench coat flared around his legs. The top buttons of it were undone and his hair was in shambles, like he hadn’t slept in a while and didn’t quite remember how to put himself together. 

“And you are?” Asked the shorter of the two men still on their feet, a gun pointed steadily in my direction. 

If I were a less experienced hunter the sight of a gun being pointed at my head might have made me flinch, but it didn’t now. I’d been bitten by vampires, sliced up by Djinn, and slammed around by demons whose names I’d never bothered to catch my entire life. A gun was nothing. If I were killed by a hunter who didn’t trust me because I’d threatened one of his own, well that wouldn’t really shock me. Hell, I’d do the same if it was one of my brothers in the same situation. I didn’t blame Trigger Happy McGee for whatever he might decide to do next. 

“Zenneth,” I responded simply. 

“And what exactly do you want…Zenneth?” The taller of the two spoke. He was entirely different from the other one. His hands were held up, palms forward, as if to prove I wasn’t in danger (even though I obviously was) and his face was blank. No sign of the absolute malice and distrust that the other one showed. 

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “To finish my damn hunt without having to worry about any jackass kids fucking things up.”

My wrists ached. They’d been aching for days— ever since those vamps caught me and tied me up. But that’s what I wanted. I’d only been pretending to be out-of-it for days. I knew how to focus even when I was low on blood. My mother had taught me how to focus, even after being nearly drained. The vamps had been talking freely around me and I could feel it in my bones, I was so close to them letting slip the name of their head hancho. I only needed another day or so. 

And the kid— Jack— had come barreling in, machetes blazing, and ruined everything. His only saving grace was the fact that he’d freed me, without hesitation, after seeing me tied there on the barn floor with a glassy look in my eye. Hell, I still felt pretty glassy. It’d be a day a or two before I was back to normal. But I’d been trained and prepared for any situation I might have ever encountered when facing the supernatural, and a week playing dessert for a few blood-suckers felt like a walk in the park at this point. 

The only thing I had to be careful about now was my heat. That much injury was bound to bring on an early heat. Once my body realized it was out of danger it would do whatever it could to scream out for an alpha to come take care of me and, unfortunately, the best way it could think of to do that was to put me through three days of hell so it could pump out all of the pheromones it wanted. Honestly, people liked to pretend evolution had come some far when it was really bullshit. The human body could get rid of the need for an appendix, but the world was billions of people deep into overpopulation and our shitty meat sacks couldn’t get rid of our presentations? Bullshit. 

“I was only trying to help,” Jack spoke up finally, pulling himself gingerly from the floor. He probably had a broken rib or two, I assumed. He’d been thrown into a wall before the nest fled. 

“That’d be super appreciated if your ‘help’ hadn’t ruined everything.” My next words were spoken towards Trench Coat. “Keep your kid on a shorter leash next time, yeah?”

With that I turned on my heels and started down the dirt road that lead up to the barn. I’d let the vamps catch me in town, so I’d be walking my way back to my motel. Good thing I had an impeccable sense of direction. Sorta. 

“You need a ride?” The voice of Trigger Happy McGee hit my ears when I was hardly more than forty feet away. 

“I’ll be fine!” I called back, my feet carrying me faster. 

If my past hunts were any indication, I had around twelve hours before my body decided I was out of imminent danger and ready to be taken care of. I had approximately twelve hours to make it god-knew how many miles back to town. That’s why, when the Tall One called out to me, asking if I needed a ride, I hesitated. 

Scott and Joel were back at the motel. My brothers, Scott eleven and Joel only nine years old, had been on their own for four days now, living out of a stocked motel room fridge and studying out of old elementary school textbooks I’d found at a garage sale. If my heat hit me before I made it back to them, I knew they’d be fine alone for another three days, but I didn’t want to do that to him.

“Fine,” I sighed at the invitation. “Can I at least get your names before I get into a car with you?”  
m “Sam,” the tall one said, giving a half-smile with no actual semblance of kindness behind it. It was polite. Just polite. 

“Castiel,” said Trench Coat Guy before he put an arm around Jack and led him towards the black Impala parked on the grass a few yards away.  
Trigger Happy was silent, throwing you a weary glare before pulling his car keys from his pocket and starting towards the Impala as well. 

 

Dean. The last one’s name turned out to be Dean and he did not speak a single word to me the entire way back to the motel. That was fine. I just wanted them gone. As soon as they were gone I could stop focusing on how pissed off I was at them and start focusing on finding the members of the nest that Jack had let get away. The smell of Alpha was nearly suffocating in the back seat of that car and I sat as close to the car door as I could, careful not to touch anyone. Literally just skin contact with an alpha would probably set my heat over the edge after the amount of abuse my body had taken and I needed to get back to my brothers before that happened. A small wave of nausea hit me as we pulled into the motel parking lot and I prayed, with everything in my soul that it was from the blood-loss and not from my shitty Omega biology. It was too soon for my symptoms to start. My hopes were dashed when Sam, in the passenger seat inhaled audibly and the faintest hint of a growl rumbled from Dean, who was driving. I glanced at Castiel and Jack, who both looked confused but otherwise unaffected. That confused me. If it was my heat, and the two in the front could smell it, why didn’t it seem like Castiel or Jack could?

“Thanks for the lift,” I grumbled as I quickly spilled out of the car and headed towards room 16. 

I could hear the sound of a car door closing behind me and footsteps following me. I sighed heavily but didn’t turn back, reaching my motel door and knocking a special pattern that I had picked out with my brothers. The door opened immediately. 

Anyone else would think that after being gone for four days my brothers would be ecstatic to see me. Worried about me even. But no. We’d been on the hunt since our mom died when Scott was seven and Joel was five. Four days didn’t even phase them anymore. Joel laid on the bed furthest from the door, his cellphone in his hands, and Scott had answered the door with his phone in his own hands. They were, without a doubt, playing Fortnite with each other, and probably had been since I left. 

“Homework,” I said as I brushed last Scott, into the room. “I wanna see it.”

Scott glances up at me, and then briefly back at whoever had followed me from the car, and held the door while they made it to the room. 

“We learn at home. It’s all homework,” He sassed. 

“Then I wanna see all of it,” I responded without hesitation. 

“Who’s that?” Joel asked without even looking up.

If I was a more sensitive human being I might have been offended by how much they absolutely didn’t seem to care about the fact that I was filthy, pale, and covered in my own dried blood. Instead of being upset, I glanced over my shoulder to see Dean standing beside the motel door as Scott shut it behind him. 

“Some guy, who is leaving,” I replied, moving to where my duffel bag laid, right where I’d left it, between the two beds. 

“You’re going into heat,” Dean declared, as if I wasn’t already aware. 

That got Joel’s attention. He dropped his phone, scrunched up his face, and dramatically rolled into his back, arms spread wide. 

“Again?” He groaned. 

Not only were my two companions my brothers, but they were also young, and hyper-sensitive to smells as they approached their presentation. They hated the smell of my heat. They both agreed that it smelled like a candy factory had been drowned in gas and then exploded. Overly sweet mixed with the sharp sting of petrol. But they couldn’t leave me. Scott was in charge of guarding the door, and Joel was in charge of making sure I ate and drank while I writhed in pain and waited for it to pass. They didn’t even know the gross details of what was happening to me. They were grossed out on the scent alone. Sure, I felt bad that they had to deal with it so often—more often than if their sister wasn’t constantly coming home with nearly-fatal wounds— but the way I saw it, if that was the price they had to pay to not be put into foster care, then it was worth it. 

“Yes, again. You’ll survive. It probably won’t even be that bad this time,” I lied, desperate to get off the subject so I could get back to kicking Dean out. 

“Not only do you possibly have stragglers from the nest on your ass, but you’re also gonna have alphas knocking down your door, trying to get in here. This place isn’t safe.”

That caught both of my brothers’ interest. Joel sat up and stared at Dean fearfully whole Scott finally put his phone into his pocket. 

“You didn’t kill the whole nest?” Scott asked, his voice smaller than usual. 

“I would have,” I sighed, plopping my duffel bag onto my bed and digging through it for a clean pair of clothes. “But their friend came along and messed everything up.”

“What do we do?” Joel asked. 

“What we always do,” I said firmly. There was no room to baby their feelings. We were in danger, they knew it, and they needed to know to be on their toes. “We keep that door shut and keep a weapon on the bedside table. We’ll be fine.” In a soft moment I threw each of the boys a smile. “We always are.”

“You should come home with us,” Dean spoke again, and I instantly rolled my eyes.

“How is that safer?” I scoffed. 

“We’ve got a bunker, fully warded, plenty of rooms, lots of hunters around, with no presentation. So you’ll all be safe from vamps, and Zenneth won’t have to worry about any alphas.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Okay, first of all, how the fuck do you have hunters with no presentation? That’s impossible.”

“Long story, but…they’re not from around here.”

“And how about you? And Sam? And Jack and Castiel?”

“Jack and Castiel aren’t from around here either. And Sam and I can control ourselves. It’s your safest bet.”

I opened my mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the sound of someone pounding on the door, followed by a voice calling, “Room service!”

My blood ran cold. It was a female voice, so nobody from the car, and I always made sure to tell the front desk not to send any cleaners my way. My eyes immediately fell on my brothers and I pointed to each of them and then to the bathroom. Joel scurried across the room and through the doorway. Scott stopped at his bedside table, opening it to pull out a machete and a small dart gun before following his younger brother, closing and locking the door behind him. 

The pounding never hesitated, only growing louder until the door burst open, splintering on its hinges as a vampire, one I recognized from the nest, exploded into the room, fangs bared. Before Dean could react he was being thrown into a wall, slamming his head off the white plaster. I dove towards my own bedside table, but was caught by the back of my shirt before I could reach the machete inside of it. 

I was thrown on my back onto the floor in front of the beds and, as if in a final Hail Mary attempt by my body to get me some help, a cramp rolled through my abdomen, no doubt sending off a wave of pheromones. My hands landed on the vamps shoulders, trying to pry her off of me as she stretched her neck forward, doing everything she could to get close enough to bite me. I groaned as my limited strength started to give out. She could probably tell how weak I was, she obviously wasn’t using all of her strength. But her hubris was my saving grace. The bathroom door burst open and I could hear Scott growl wildly before the vamp gave a pained cry and fell off of me. Oh yes, that boy was definitely going to be an alpha. 

He’d shot the vamp with a dart full of dead-man’s blood, which left her writhing long enough for him to slam his machete down on her neck, decapitating her. 

“Bags!” I screamed “Now!”

Joel emerged from the bathroom, eyes brimming with tears, but he did what he was told, grabbing his small duffel bag from the corner as Scott grabbed his own. “There’s a black car full of men, go to it!” I demanded. 

Without hesitation my brothers obeyed, I watched as they sprinted across the parking lot to the Impala where the men were already out of the car and starting towards us. They all stopped when they saw the young boys, however, Castiel and Jack each taking them under an arm and guiding them into the car. I rolled onto my stomach and crawled to where Dean was on the floor, blinking furiously and trying to hold onto consciousness. 

“You motherfucking oaf, get up!” I groaned as I pulled on one of Dean’s shoulders while he lay groaning on the floor. “Get your shit together and get fucking— GAHH!!”

A pain, stronger than any other heat pain I’d felt before pushed through my body the moment my hand touched the bare skin beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt. My mind went hazy. It was just so fucking strong. Even as my vision blackened my mind scolded me for being so weak. And maybe, under other circumstances, I may have fought harder, but I had watched the other hunters grab my brothers. I had watched them usher Scott and Joel to safety, and for that reason alone, I assume, my body didn’t fight what was happening. It let the pain carry me off out of consciousness, and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean reacts to Zenneth’s heat...not well.

“Fuck the stop signs, Sammy, she’s burnin’ up.”

I couldn’t quite get my eyes to open, but my brain activity was starting to pick up again. I was definitely in a vehicle, curled up across someone’s lap, my head against their chest and their arms around me to hold me in place.

“She’s gonna be fine, Dean,” Sam’s voice snapped at his brother. “She was losing blood for days, her body probably just needs time to get itself straight. Hence, the heat.”

I wanted to agree with Sam, and opened my mouth to do so, but just then a stab of pain gripped my abdomen and all that came out was a groan. The body beneath me went rigid and a hand started to stroke my hair. The fact that the pain immediately ebbed was a good sign. My heat wasn’t only just starting. I still had time to get to the bunker and get settled before I’d be bedridden for days.

“Zenneth?” Dean’s voice spoke down to me.

“M’ fine,” I managed to croak, finally cracking my eyes open and trying to scooch out of Dean’s lap, only to realize there were five of us crammed into the back seat, and all my movement did was shift me from the center of Dean’s lap, to his right thigh, and make me hyper aware that I had been seated directly on top of his erection before. “You’re poking me.”

I craned my neck to look at Dean and despite the blush coloring his cheeks, his face remained stoic.

“Not really my fault, _Omega_ ,” Dean grumbled in response and my body immediately tensed at the sound of an alpha calling me by my presentation hit my ears. I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped me as slick began to soak my panties. I could tell the moment the smell of my arousal hit Dean. His hands left me to tightly grip the edge of the seat below him, and he leaned backwards as if trying to to make as little physical contact with me as he could.

“Sam?” He spoke to his brother again.

“Yeah,” was all Sam responded before the engine revved as he pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.

 

I’m honestly not sure if I lost consciousness again or simply fell asleep. All I’m really sure of is that when I woke up I was no longer in the car, but rather suspended, bridal style, in someone’s arms as they descended a long staircase.

“This is so cool!” Joel’s voice met my ears and once again I opened my eyes. The room was busy with people, most huddled around a table in the center, looking over books and pieces of paper. Some sat at blinking machines that lined the wall, doing god knows what. They all stopped when they noticed me, being held in Dean’s arms. Castiel and Jack immediately moved to the table, and each person there paused in their work to give Jack a hug. He must have been missing for a while before he found me.

“I’m gonna take the boys and get them each a room and…uh…just get away from her,” Sam said quickly and I watched as he took each of my brothers by the hand and led them through a doorway across the room. Joel was bouncing with excitement, but there was something off about Scott. Well, not that I’d expect him to be perfectly fine. He’d just beheaded his first vamp. The poor fucking kid.

“I can walk,” I grumbled, drawing Dean’s attention to me. I tried to wiggle myself out of his grip, but he only held me tighter.

If this was really a house full of hunters, which it appeared to be, this was not how I wanted to be introduced to them— as some weak little Omega who couldn’t even walk herself down a flight of stairs. I scented the air and was surprised to find that aside from the lingering smell of Sam and my brothers, Dean was really the only person I could smell. Well, Dean mixed with something familiar that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Holy shit. These people either had some amazing scent blockers, or they really didn’t have a presentation.

Dean, didn’t seem to care about my first impression, his grip on me didn’t falter.

“Dean…” Castiel said as he cautiously approached us and it was just then that I realized something was off. The room was full of uneasy faces and when Castiel took a step towards us, Dean would take a step back. Looking up at him, I could suddenly see why. His eyes were wild, pupils fully dilated as he took heaving breaths. I sniffed in his direction only for it to hit me suddenly what was going on. Being shut in the car with an omega in heat literally in his lap had set off his rut.

“Shit,” I breathed.

“Just let me heal her and then—“ Castiel stepped towards us again, only to be stopped by the sound of Dean snarling at him.

This was not good. It didn’t matter if Castiel didn’t have a presentation, he was still a threat to Dean’s stupid alpha-brain. My body had gotten exactly what it wanted: an alpha looking to protect me.

That must have been why Sam had been so quick to get away from us with my brothers. Dean smelled borderline-feral. It didn’t make sense. How was he this far gone already when hardly any time at all had passed, and he’d had contact with me the whole time. Physical contact between alphas and omegas should have lessened symptoms, so why were his so accelerated? And, now that I thought about it, what the hell was up with me passing out after touching him earlier? The second my skin met his it felt like the worst heat I’d ever experienced. What the fuck was that about?

Those were all questions to be answered another time. Right then I just needed to make sure nobody got their throat ripped out.

Swallowing my pride to the best of my ability, I did the only thing I could think of to calm him down. I leaned my head up from his chest to nuzzle my nose against the scent gland in his neck. As much as it disgusted me to do so, I purred for him. My chest softly rumbled against his and I could feel him slowly start to relax. The stinging edge to his butterscotch and whiskey scent easing up a bit. If I was honest with myself, being that close to his scent glad was driving me crazy. The urge to sink me teeth into his neck was tugging strongly at the back of my brain, and if I was further into my heat I honestly don’t know that I’d have been able to resist it. Luckily I wasn’t too far gone yet.

“Need to sleep,” I muttered against his skin. “Can I have a bed…Alpha?”

Dean purred back at my use of his title, and, careful to keep his distance from the others in the room, he carried me through the doorway our brothers had disappeared through, up a few steps into a kitchen, and from there into a hallway.

I watched the numbers on the doors pass by in a near-blur until we reached 11, and Dean practically kicked it open. He carried me to the bed and, amazingly gently for his current state of mind, laid me down on the bed, just in time for the next bout of pain to overtake me. Before I could protest, he was laying down beside me, gathering me back into his arms and nuzzling his face into my neck to breathe in my scent. He scrunched my T-shirt up a few inches so the skin of his bare arms could touch the skin of my stomach as he held me, and another purr escaped his throat. Everyone else was out of danger. I should have told him to leave me. I should have slapped him and told him to get his shit together and get away from me. But unlike earlier, his touch didn’t bring me pain now. It was calming, and allowed me to once again drift off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the millionth time in the past 24 hours, Zenneth wakes up.

I woke up drenched in sweat. A small whine tried to leave me but my throat was too dry and it came out as a sharp exhale of breath. I inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of alpha surrounding me and it calmed the burning pain in my abdomen. I sighed in relief before my rational brain took hold long enough for me to panic. My eye opened quickly to find myself in a dim room, the wall ahead of me decorated in an assortment of guns. There was an arm draped over me. Carefully as I could I turned and sat up to look at who it was. 

Dean. Of course it was Dean. How could I forget?  
Ignoring the mess of slick that had built up between my legs I peeled myself out from under Dean’s arm and climbed from the bed. He was obviously still in rut because he was out like a light. I thanked my lucky stars for that as I tiptoed to the door and slipped out into the hallway. I needed to find my brothers. I could stay in their room until this passed, and they would take care of me like they always did. They would keep me away from any alpha’s that might try to clam me. 

My hand shot to my neck and felt around erratically until I was sure that there were no claiming marks on my skin. Nothing had happened. We’d fallen asleep and that was it. Quietly I crept down the hallway, hoping I was headed in the right direction. I was still light headed and held the wall for support as I made my way. 

“Zenneth?” A voice said from behind me. 

I gasped and spun around far too quickly for my weak body to stay balanced. In an instant I was on the floor, my knees aching from the impact of landing on them and groaning. Whoever had spoken was at my side in a moment. I looked up to see Jack standing over me. His forehead was wrinkled with concern and he helped me back to my feet. 

“We should find Castiel. He can heal you.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked irately. “You people keeping saying he can ‘heal’ me. What is he, some kind of doctor?”

Jack’s lips curved up into a half smile. “Something like that,” he replied, and helped me down the hallway. 

 

An angel of the lord. Castiel was a fucking angel. Literally. Jack led me to an unoccupied room that he said was just a few doors down from Scott and Joel, and a few minutes later Castiel had come in, pressed two fingers to my forehead, and suddenly I was better. The bite marks and bruises from the vamps disappeared, I was a million times less dizzy, and even the symptoms of my heat seemed to lessen. They didn’t go away completely, but they were noticeably better. 

“Thank you,” is what I should have said. What I said instead was, “You couldn’t have done that sooner?”

“I wanted to heal you yesterday,” Castiel responded. Fuck, a day had passed already? “But Dean was…uncooperative.”

I couldn’t help the blush that colored my cheeks then. 

“I’m sorry that you…had to see all of that,” I apologized, remembering how I had scented Dean in front of a room full of people. “That must have been awkward.”

“Not at all. You can’t help your biology, and you used it to calm Dean down before he got out of control. Quick thinking. I’m sure you’re a great hunter.”

I gave Castiel a soft smile, then turned it towards Jack who was hanging back by the doorway. 

“Thank you, both of you. For helping me. And helping with my brothers.” Finally, just for a moment, I allowed my hard exterior to crack and let a bit of softness out towards them. “I’m sorry I was so mean to you before, Jack. You didn’t know I was undercover. You thought you were saving me. You’re brave. I hope my brothers turn out like you.”

Both men beamed at me. Jack proud of himself, and Castiel proud of…his son? Was Jack his son? It certainly seemed like it. I wished I had a father like Castiel. Someone to be proud of me, and to worry about me. Instead my father was a drunk who took off after Joel was born, leaving me in the care of my mother. 

My mother was a great hunter, there was no doubt of that. But her methods of training me after my dad left were…unorthodox. Effective, but questionable. 

“Thank you, Zenneth. We will let you rest now.” 

Castiel nodded to Jack and the two left you room.

 

I heaved a sigh before wriggling our of my pants and ruined panties, the tiffing myself of my shirt and bra too for good measure. The feeling that I was overheating was already coming back, and I was more than willing to indulge in being naked, since I never could when my brothers were around. When I was as bare as the day I was born I snuggled underneath the covers— even though they weren’t as nice as I would have liked, a little too thin and a little too scratchy. No sooner had my eyes fluttered shut than a loud bang sounded through the bunker, causing me to sit back upright. 

“Where is she?” Dean’s voice sounded through the halls.

Quickly, I scrambled out of bed and across the room, managing to get the door locked before my knees buckled at the ache in my core. I leaned against the door, ear pressed to the wood, and listened. 

“Dean, calm down.” Sam. That was Sam speaking.

“Where’s my omega?” Dean demanded. 

I tried to ignore the fact that my stomach fluttered at that. I scoffed at my involuntary reaction. I could be as strong as humanly possible and I still wouldn’t be able to stop all of my biology’s bullshit. 

“She’s not your omega, Dean, you’re just in rut. You—“ Sam was interrupted by a growl but continued anyway. “You’re gonna be really embarrassed about this when you get back to normal.”

“No. She’s mine.” Dean snarled. 

“No she’s not!” My breath hitched in my throat at the sound of Scott’s voice. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to go protect My little brother from the feral alpha but I was naked, and having me closer to him would no doubt just drive Dean further into his rut. 

“Yes she is!” Dean shouted back as if he was speaking to a full grown man and not an eleven year old. 

“No she’s not!” Joel was there too, apparently. 

Dean let loose a growl which was responded to with Scott’s own growl, and Joel’s best impression of one. The youngest brother hadn’t exactly figured out the logistics of that yet. Helpless on the floor, I did the only thing I could and shouted, “If you growl at my brothers again I’ll cut your knot off!”

“‘Mega!” Dean’s voice suddenly sounded desperate and relieved all at once. I could hear his footsteps carry down the hallway before coming to stop in front of my door. As much as I wanted to, I refused to inhale deeply. Smelling him would do nothing to keep me rational. The doorknob shook before Dean’s fist hit the door, causing me to jump away. “‘Mega…need you.”

“Please…please stay away,” I managed to make myself stay. 

I could have let him in. I could have given in to Dean, taken care of both of our needs, and been able to move on. But not only would that be admitting I was too weak to handle this situation, but Dean very clearly wasn’t in any shape to actually decide if he wanted me. I wasn’t about to make that mistake again. 

“But—“

“No! Go away!”

There were a few moments of silence and then Dean responded, “Can’t.”

I might have asked what he meant if it weren’t for the fact that just having him on the other side of my door was making me feel better. I could have crawled my way back to my bed, but I didn’t want to. So I stayed there. And I let him do the same.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zen’s heat is done and also Sam is just very...Sam.

The next three days passed in an absolute blur. All I knew was that one morning I woke up, and my fever was gone, my nausea had almost fully subsided, and I was no longer insatiably horny. That, and I was still laying on the floor by my bedroom door.

Groaning, I dressed myself in the jeans and T-shirt I’d been wearing before, forgoing any bra or panties. I needed a shower more than I had ever needed anything else in my entire life. If it weren’t for the feral alpha outside my door for the past few days I’d have snuck out and taken one sooner. Then, after my shower, I needed food. Aside from using the bathroom, Dean had only left my door in fifteen minute increments to go to his room and…relieve himself. Thankfully someone in the bunker was always on duty to keep an eye out for those times so they could bring me food for water. In Dean’s state he would have let me starve to death before he let someone else near me. It should have pissed me off to know end, but a small part of me likes having him so absolutely obsessed with me, even if it was just the alpha in him, and not really Dean himself.

  
When I opened my bedroom door I was surprised to see not Dean, but Scott sitting outside it. He scrambled to his feet when he saw me and lunges at me, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my stomach.

  
“You smell awful,” was the first thing he said, his voice muffled against me.

  
I chuckled, pulling away from him.

  
“Thanks. Missed you too,” I teased.

  
Scott looked bashful for a second before hugging me again. There was something desperate in his hold. Suddenly it hit me: three days ago my little brother not only watched me get attacked, but then beheaded someone for the first time. A wave of disappointment in myself washed over me. How had I not made someone check on him? Three days he must have been coping on his own while I was being guarded in my room by a rutting alpha and thinking about how badly I just wanted a knot. I was never meant to play the role of mother— I was hardly even a good sister.

  
“How you holding up?” I asked softly and Scott shrugged without letting go. He knew what I was talking about. I’m sure it was at the front of his mind. “You wanna talk about it?”

  
“Already did.”

  
“With who?”

  
“Sam.”

  
“What’d Sam say?”

  
“That I did really well. That I saved you and Joel. Thanked me for saving his brother. Said living our lives sometimes we gotta do hard things, but if we’re doing the right thing and we’re helping people then we’re doing good.”

  
“Good. That’s really good advice.”I pried my brother away from me and made him look me in the eye. “You did the right thing. Mom would be proud.”

  
“Is that…is that really a good thing?”

  
“It is to me. You saved me, Scotty. You alpha’d right up and protected your family, and a total stranger. I’m proud of you.”

  
A hint of a smile creased his face then. He looked away and then back at me, almost embarrassed. “You really think I’m gonna be an alpha.”

  
“Totally,” I said, completely honestly before wrapping my arm over his shoulders and starting down the hall. “And you’re gonna scare the pants off of all the other alphas. And all the omegas are gonna swoon over you, and if any of them ever hurt you your big sister is gonna obliterate them. Without mercy.”

  
Scott laughed as the two of you reached the end of the hall and turned into the kitchen. “You’d never hurt something that wasn’t a monster.”

  
“Zen!”

  
Joel, who had been seated at the kitchen table, spooning cereal into his mouth, jumped up and ran over to hug me just like his brother had done, only Joel’s face only came up to the top of my thigh. He squeezed with all of his limited might before pulling back and looking up at me with his nose scrunched up.

  
“You stink,” he noted.

  
“ _Wooooooooow_ ,” I drew out the word as I threw my head back, feigning offense. “So glad you guys missed me so much. I suppose I’ll shower then, if my smell is so offensive.”

  
“Joel, wanna show Scott where the cereal is and I’ll find her some new clothes? You haven’t had breakfast yet.” I looked up, just noticing for the first time that Sam was in the kitchen as well, sitting across from Joel’s seat with an identical bowl of cereal in front of him.

  
Jesus, I hadn’t even thought about who was going to take care of my brothers while I was out of commission. I guess my brain just assumed Scott would look after Joel and that would be it, like always, even in this house full of strangers. But it seemed like Sam had taken up my roll. Looking at Scott and Joel, unlike usual at the end of my heats, they appeared to have both bathed and changed their clothes on a regular basis.

  
“Thank you,” I said to Sam. “For taking care of my brothers.”

  
Sam shrugged, almost bashfully. “They pretty much know how to take care of themselves. And everyone pitched in.”

  
“Well then thank you for taking care of me,” I replied, somehow in the hazy memories of the past few days I could decipher that Sam had brought me a good deal of my food and water. I froze however, when I remembered why that was. “Is Dean…um…”

  
“Came out of his rut a few hours ago. He’s probably gonna want to apologize to you…eventually. He’s embarrassed, so he’s pretty cranky right now.”

  
I nodded my understanding and then looked to my brothers. “Alright, well I’m gonna go hop into the tub and make myself a prune.”

The nearest bathroom to my bedroom turned out to be only a few doors down the hallway. It was immaculate, complete with a standing shower and a large tub across the room from that. It was the closest thing to heaven that I had ever seen. I turned on the tub and then stripped out of my dirty clothes, before examining myself in the mirror that hung on the back of the door.

  
I’d never been particularly thin— always a bit of extra meat on my hips and stomach and thighs that my mother has always been sure to comment on, and breasts large enough that she called them “a liability”. I mean, I understood why: more flesh for monsters to stab and claw at. But I liked to eat, and after Mom died there wasn’t anyone there to monitor my food intake, so I ate whatever I liked.

  
The skin where I knew there had once been bruises and bite marks was smooth, and paper than usual. Typically my skin was just as brown as my brothers’— not very dark, but dark enough to tell that I wasn’t white. Now, however, I looked like when you color something in with colored pencil, and then try to erase it. The color was still obviously there, but it was evident that something didn’t want it to be.

  
I sighed at my reflection before turning back to the tub. I stepped in and sat down as the water continues to rub. It was scolding hot, just the way I liked it. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, enjoying the feeling.

  
“Zenneth?” Sam’s voice called after a few light knocks.

  
“Yeah?” I called back, scrambling forward to turn off the faucet so I could hear him better. The water was nearly full now anyway.

  
“I borrowed some clothes from Maggie— she looked about your size. I’m gonna leave them outside the door and, do you like eggs? You’re probably hungry. I was gonna make you eggs. And bacon and toast?”

  
“That sounds great, Sam. Thank you.”

  
“No problem. Let me know if you need anything.”

  
“Will do. And Sam?”

  
“Yeah?”

  
“Really, thank you.”

  
I could hear Sam five a soft chuckle from the other side of the door.

  
“We all need a little help sometimes, I’m just glad you’re…ya know…better.”

I sighed, settling down into my bath with a small smile on my lips. I liked Sam. He was sweet. Sweet enough that I almost regretted the fact that my brothers and I wouldn’t be staying. 


	5. Chapter 5

I didn’t see Dean that day. I explored the bunker, and watched a movie on Sam’s laptop with my brothers, and met the other hunters in the bunker, and I never once saw Dean. And that was fine by me. That meant neither of us ever had to deal with the weirdness that had taken place between us.

  
That night, dressed in a pair of Maggie’s pajamas, I gathered up the clothes she had leant me earlier that day, creeping two doors down the hallway to the room where Joel was. Scott was in the room right across from him. As quietly as I could, I opened Joel’s door and peeked inside. I could see him in the light that flooded in from the hallway. He was asleep, of course. According to the clock on my bedside table it was nearly two in the morning. I’d sat up listening to the sounds of the others going to bed for hours. Joel looked peaceful, sprawled out on his stomach, mouth agape, half-covered in a blanket.

  
I glanced over my shoulder before stepping into the room. No more than three steps in I had to swear as I accidentally kicked something plastic. I looked down to see a large Iron Man action figure skidding to a stop just beside his bed. My eyebrows furrowed and my throat went tight. After glancing at Joel to find that he hadn’t even flinched, I went to the toy and picked it up. It wasn’t Joel’s. He didn’t have toys. He had his phone and that was it. It honestly had never even dawned on me before that normal kids played with toys. Games on a phone kept him entertained and if he ever lost the phone, we could download them onto another. But an actual, physical toy. That was a liability. Something for him to get attached to that could have gotten left behind in one of our many jumps from town to town. So I had ruled out the option of toys when he was too young to ask for them, and that had been that.

  
But here he was, an action figure on the floor of a room that he could call his own. And here I was, about to pull him away from the first semblance of a normal life that he’d ever be able to remember. My jaw tensed as the urge to cry filled me. What the fuck was I doing? I was about to pull my brothers out of bed and out into the night when this was probably the safest they’d ever been. All I had ever done for them was drag them across the states, preach to them about being careful, and force them to take care of me during my heats. What was wrong with me?

  
When Mom died I’d been forced to be a mother, and that wasn’t what they deserved. I couldn’t help who I was, and what I needed to do, but that didn’t mean that I had to drag them through all of my shit. Sam had been a better parent to them in the past few days than I ever had. I never sat down and had breakfast with them. They were never clean and bathed at the end of my heats when I was the one in charge. Hell, half the time I wasn’t even sure if the shit in the garage sale text books were correct. I wasn’t a good parent. I wasn’t even a good sister. Sam, in three days, had already shown that he was better than me. He’d probably given Joel that toy.

  
So I retreated from Joel’s room. I stepped back into the hall, closed Joel’s door and threw a fleeting glance over my shoulder at Scott’s before I scurried down the hallway, Maggie’s clothes grasped in my left hand.

  
Through the kitchen, through the library, and into the “War Room” I went, only to stop dead in my tracks. Dean sat at the table— the table with a lit up map of the world on it. He looked up at me when I stopped like a deer in the headlights.

  
“Going somewhere?” Dean asked. He had a glass of brown liquid in front of him that he raised to his lips and downed the last of then.

  
“I…my car,” I stuttered out. “I was gonna go get my car.”

  
“With a change of clothes?”

  
“Was gonna take me a while to walk.”

  
Dean stood, heading to a small table with a decanter and a few rocks glasses on it, and poured himself another drink, pouring a second one as well and holding it out to me. I hesitated before setting Maggie’s clothes on the table and then crossing to him to accept the drink. It must have been residue from my heat that made my stomach clench when I stepped within a few feet of him. God, I just wanted to bury my face into his neck again. To breathe in his scent and have all of my internal turmoil feel at ease. I sniffed at the glass.

  
“Scotch? I pinned you for a whiskey guy.” I teased.

  
Dean wasn’t in a joking mood. “Yeah, well I pinned you for a girl who wouldn’t abandon her brothers with a bunch of strangers.”

  
Alright. So we were getting straight to the point.

  
“Forgive me for thinking they’d be better off living with a literal fucking angel than getting dragged around the country with there absolute wreck of a sister.” I downed my glass of scotch in one go before handing the glass back to Dean.

  
He began to refill it for me. “Wreck of a sister? You seem to have your shit together. As much as any hunter can.”  
I scoffed, taking my newly full glass back from him a bit more violently than I had intended. “Doesn’t matter how much my shit’s together, my life is still a wreck. Because that’s the life of a hunter. Just one bullshit thing after the other. A never ending series of bad things, just back to back.”

  
Dean, his glass in one hand and the decanter in the other moved back to the map table and took a seat. Without thinking about it, just following the alcohol, I followed and sat across from him. The burn felt good moving down my throat and spreading a warmth through my stomach. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a drink. A flush spread across my face and I could feel the drink taking effect in my brain already.

  
“How uplifting,” Dean snorted into his glass before throwing back his drink.

  
“It’s true.”

  
“And yet you wanna leave them in an entire bunker full of hunters.”

  
“It’s better than just having me.”

  
“Bullshit!” I gasped as Dean slammed his glass down. “You abandon those kids and they’re never gonna bounce back from that.”

  
“They’re strong kids. They’ll be alright. At least, better than if they come with me and inevitably get killed. Scott is eleven fucking years old and already has a kill under his belt. You know what kind of life that is? That’s _my_ life, and I always said I’d give them better than that. And I didn’t.” I don’t know when my tears started to fall, but they were streaming down my face now. I wiped at them furiously with the sleeve of the shirt I was wearing. “Someone here let Joel play with an action figure. Did you know I’ve never gotten the kid any damn toys? Never. A nine year old whose never had any fucking toys. A nine year old with no friends who is constantly making sure his sister doesn’t starve to death during her frequent fucking heats. What kind of life is that. Who does that to a kid?” I took another drink. “They deserve better. You guys are better.”

  
“Look,” Dean sighed. “I’m not gonna pretend like I don’t get it. But I guarantee you that they won’t.” He stood, walking around the table to sit in the chair next to me as my crying turned to sobbing.

  
What the hell was I doing? I couldn’t abandon my brothers.

  
“I can’t— I can’t leave them. But I don’t want to take them a— away from here. I don’t— I don’t know…” my words cut off and I let myself dissolve into tears.

  
Dean heaved a dramatic sigh before I felt his hands pulling me out of my seat, into his lap. His hand found the back of my head and guided it towards his neck, my nose pressing against his scent gland.  
Instantly I felt calmer. My body’s shaking eased and even though my tears were still falling, I didn’t feel like my world was caving in anymore.

  
“So just stay,” Dean rationalized.

  
Maybe it was just the calming effects of his scent, but suddenly I couldn’t exactly remember why I hadn’t made that an option. Was it because of Dean? Or just my own pride? His hand stroked my hair and pushed away the anxiety clouding my brain. Wasn’t being around him supposed to be uncomfortable? I couldn’t, for the life of me remember why. I pressed against him harder as I finally stopped crying and lost myself in the smell of him. How the hell did he smell so damn good?

  
A throat cleared from the doorway and snapped me back to reality. I leapt out of Dean’s lap and wiped the remaining wetness from my face before spinning around to see Sam in the doorway, holding Scott’s hand with his left hand and using his right arm to hold Joel who was clinging to the Iron Man action figure with one arm and to Sam’s neck with the other.

  
“What’s going on?” I asked.

  
Sam, obviously feeling awkward now, could barely meet my eye as he said, “The boys woke up and couldn’t find you, so they came and got me. What’s…what’s going on here?”

  
“Just talking,” Dean grumbled before reaching across the table to grab his glass of scotch.

  
“Huh. Right.” Sam said, unconvinced as he lowered Joel to the ground and released Scott’s hand.

  
“Sorry they woke you up,” I apologized as I kneeled down to the boys’ level.

  
“Don’t worry about it. I don’t sleep much anyway.” Sam shrugged.

  
I looked to my brothers. “What’s going on, guys?”

  
“Joel woke me up,” Scott grumbled, sleepily rubbing his eye.

  
“There’s a ghost in my room,” Joel replied, wide-eyes. “Or a monster.”

  
“Why do you say that?” I tilted my head.  
“I left Iron Man in front of my door…to protect me…and when I woke up he was next to my bed. Something moved him. I think it’s a monster.”

  
I sighed and looked at Joel sympathetically. I couldn’t tell him that I moved Iron Man, right before I nearly took off into the night to abandon him. Dean seemed to sense this, and stood from his seat, crossing to kneel down beside me.

  
“Tell you what, Joel, how about you bunk with your brother tonight, and Zen and I will sweep your room for monsters.” Dean proposed.

  
“And ghosts?” Joel asked, wide eyed, clutching Iron Man.

  
“We’ll EMF the hell out of the place.”

  
Joel nodded. Scott sighed and grabbed his brothers hand. “If you hog the blankets I’m locking you in the closet.”

  
“What?” Joel whined. “Zenneth!”

  
I rolled my eyes, “Scott, do not lock your brother in the closet.”

  
The two boys turned to leave the room, only for Joel to stop just before they reached where Sam stood beside the doorway.

  
“Dean?” Joel looked over his shoulder.

  
“Yeah?”

  
“Can Iron Man guard my door tomorrow night too?”

  
“He’s all yours, kid. Keep him.”

  
Joel grinned, thanked Dean, and scurried out of the room. Sam watched them go with a small mile on his lips before seeming to remember what he had walked in on.

  
“I’ll just let you two get back to…uh…talking.” He and Dean shared a short stare, seeming to speak with their eyes before Sam disappeared.

  
Dean and I both stood, returning to where our glasses were at the table. I picked up mine as Dean sat down beside me.

“Why did you even have an Iron Man?”

”why would I not have an Iron Man?”

 

I rolled my eyes and fell into momentary silence. 

  
“Did you want to keep talking?” Dean eventually asked. 

  
I downed my second glass of scotch before nodding my head. “Yes, please.” I stepped towards Dean and he reached out to me, pulling me back into his lap. His nose found my scent gland and I gasped as he rubbed against my skin. I’d never been on the other end of this. It felt so…intimate. But comforting. I relaxed against Dean, and let him scent me in silence, trying hard to suppress the purrs that wanted to leave my chest. 


End file.
